Dominican Republic is Safer than the United States

Welcome to the Grubernation Weekly Newsletter!

I share information, tactics and tips for moving abroad, living your dream and EVERYTHING in between.

In this week’s edition:

• Breaking Down Safety in Dominican Republic

• What’s REALLY Happening with Abinader’s Fiscal Reform Bill

• We FINALLY Got Claro Phones - Here’s What You Need to Know

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Comparing Safety Between The US and DR

The other night I was chatting with an older gentleman at a hotel bar in Philadelphia.  

When he learned that I lived in the Dominican Republic, he asked why.

“We feel safer there”

It’s become one of the first reasons I give because it’s true, but also because it’s a powerful conversation starter.

He was instantly intrigued, but more importantly I was able to change the perception of this amazing country and maybe even of perceived safety in the United States!

After I went back to my room, I started thinking … am I being reasonable?

This week, I want to share research I’ve done to PROVE that not only am I being reasonable, but that the facts about safety paint a VERY different picture than most of us have been led to believe.

In this newsletter, I’m going to break down different crime statistics and compare and contrast the United States and Dominican Republic both at the macro and micro level. 

Wait until you see this!!

First I’ll issue a disclaimer and acknowledgement…

The Dominican Republic’s data will not be as robust or controlled as the United States. 

 I had to use AI to rebuild localized DR data to get macro and test it against other reporting to ensure it’s as accurate as possible. 

You’ll see some of the initial reports below indicate only ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ for DR data until I get deeper into it. 

But I am overlaying my own experiences .. call it the ‘sniff’ or ‘eyeball’ test to affirm for you that what I’m about to report is at worst directionally accurate if not very accurate.

Let’s start with overall crime rates for the two countries:

High level, you can see that homicide rate is double in DR, violent crime is slightly higher in DR but property crime in DR is lower.

Notice the ‘tourist-targeted crime’ category says ‘high’ for DR and ESPECIALLY in tourist heavy areas.

So does that mean you'll be killed or attacked in Punta Cana??

Not so fast!

I would bet that Santo Domingo is where the crime is concentrated in DR since it’s the largest city in a small country.

Let’s compare the US vs. DR without Santo Domingo factored in.

Without Santo Domingo, overall homicide rates are comparable and violent and property crime rates are LOWER in DR. 

Then check out that ‘tourist targeted crime’ category. 

Not only is it LOWER without Santo Domingo, but it’s LOWER than the United States overall 🤯 !!

Even organized crime is even when you take the capital out of the equation.

‘But Jamie, this isn’t apples to apples’

Agreed!

So I went a couple layers deeper.

I took the homicide rate, violent crime rate and property crime rate and created an index combining all of them and ranked 6 Domincan cities against the largest US cities. 

Here’s what that looks like:

If Santo Domingo were part of the United States, it would have the 31^st highest crime rate in the country. 

Breaking it down further, here’s how it would rank in each category:

• Homicide Rate = 20th

• Violent Crime Rate = 30th

• Property Crime = 35^th

DR data does say ‘estimated’ or ‘likely’ which may make you doubt the accuracy.

But even if you adjust the data for Santo Domingo upward by 25%, it still comes in at 17^th overall on the list of cities.

What’s more, we can all agree that the crime in Santo Domingo is HIGHLY concentrated!

Avoid the worst areas, you avoid the worst crime.

My mantra for staying safe in Dominican Republic is DBFS…

Don’t Be F*cking Stupid!

It’s really easy to avoid violent crime in DR.

But in the nicest town in the nicest state in the United States, kids have to do active shooter drills because no one is truly safe.

Summer festivals or Super Bowl parades could easily turn into tragedies .. and unfortunately they have. 

One more cut of data I want to share – and this one is for the person reading this who isn’t convinced of the safety of Punta Cana specifically.

In the US, one of the most posh, high end places someone can vacation and feel very safe is Cape Cod. 

I wondered what crime would look like if you compared one of the top vacation destinations in the US to the top vacation spot in DR.

Doesn’t get much more even than that.

But again, adjust it up as high as you want and Punta Cana is STILL safer than Miami, New York, Austin, LA, Phoenix, Chicago. 

I’ve been in all of those places in the past year, and my ‘sniff test’ would affirm the results.

Dominican Republic overall is safer

Punta Cana is CRAZY safe

Just DBFS in the Dominican Republic and you’re less likely to be the victim of crime here than you are there

Facts!!

(#TrustElGringo 😉)

Here’s How Abinader’s Fiscal Reform Bill FOOLED You!

In this BRAND NEW video, I break down the President’s recent withdrawal of the draft copy of his reform bill.

This includes how he FOOLED us all and what’s next.

Enjoy!

We Got Claro Phones - FINALLY!

We’ve lived in DR for 2+ years and have simply used our Verizon phones with an international plan.

There are other US based options but in the end, Claro is the best for us.

Here’s why ..

I was in Santo Domingo months back leaving to come home when my phone wouldn’t get a signal.

Turns out the company that provides an international connection for Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and all the others went down leaving anyone using a US phone internationally anywhere in the world without signal!!

• No GPS

• No Uber

• No calls or texts

Unless you’re on Wifi or had a chance to get the GPS set before you left.

So we went to Claro and here’s what we learned:

• To get a phone and plan while financing the phone, you need ‘credit’ in DR - that means 6 months of bank statements printed

• You can buy the phone and get a plan without credit, but the plan option is limited to ‘Especial 1-3’ without 6 months ‘credit’ (see below)

• You can also have 6 months with Claro (paying for Wifi perhaps) as a form of ‘credit’ to get any plan you want

• Oh - and there’s a second page that they don’t show you unless you ask!

For me, the ‘Premium 7’ plan is what I’m willing to pay for.

I can make unlimited calls aywhere, have max download speed and not have to worry about restrictions when using the thing that’s most important in my line of business.

That’ll cost me $138 USD/month but that’s worth it to me!

My wife can get by with a $30/month plan if she wants.

Either way, we’ll save money and have a local phone.

For our US based phone, we can drop to a very basic minimal plan and have an e-sim card within the Claro phone so we can toggle between the two.

Right move for us!

What’s your Claro experience been like?

Do you need a Dominican realtor, attorney (for real estate, taxes or citizenship) or more info on the same building I’m investing in? Just click and fill out the corresopnding form and I’ll be sure you’re connected!